Learning about wine

[Innkeeper]

Well Chuck, you got the book and we don't; but there are a couple of things about the questions that are puzzling. First about alcohol evaporating. Last time we where in school they said that alcohol evaporated when subjected to heat. Having previously thought that the alcohol in wine and other substances evaporated during cooking, we were thrilled to find out that was not necessarily completely so. So, unless you were sitting around the pool in the middle of summer for several hours with a single glass of wine (a situation we can't imagine) there is not going to be a lot of evaporation going on during the consumption of a glass of wine.

Aroma can be enhanced by swirling the wine around the glass when first poured, and this is an important part of the tasting process. However, after that, aroma stays pretty much the same during the remainder of glass draining. It, the aroma, is a very important part of the taste of the wine.

The legs of a wine as we see them are those aspects that stay with you for awhile. This could well include "oakyness." They could also include positive things. Under the proper conditions, with the correct foods, we enjoy a big shot of even edgey tannins with some wines. Some people enjoy the lingering effects of residual sugar in a wine. All of these and more contribute to the legs of a wine. Alcohol evaporation? Nah.